[souravbasu]

Hi TBHPites,

The intension of this thread is to discuss our habbit of refilling the fuel tanks and their benefits and drawbacks.

I have seen people normally filling their fuel tank in any of the following ways (assuming that the person drive 10-15KM every day to work) :

Choice#1. Fill it to FULL always. So refilling is not required that often.
Choice#2. Fill the tank moderately. So it will last for 3-4 days or a even a week.
Choice#3. Fill the the tank to minimal. So the person has to refill every day or alternate days.

And where are the Questions:
1. What is your Car ?
2. Which of the above practises you follow to refill the car ?
3. How much of fuel you generally fill in each time (on average)?
4. Why do you feel your practise is good for your car ?

Some thoughts on Question#4:
1. In case of FULL TANK the prolong storage causes Octane Value of the Petrol to diminish. The full tank will also reduce work of the fuel pump and keep it cool. The extra fuel will also add on Weight to Vehicle which will decrease your Fuel Effeciency.

2. On the other hand, in case of EMPTY TANK, the petrol tank empty the water vapour from the fuel will corrode the metallic tank and may result in a fuel leakage in future (as it hapenned to me).

Auto Experts, please pitch in and add in your comments.

Hope this thread will help all of us to conclude to a best practice for refilling fuel tank, which we can follow going forward.

My 2 Cents,
SOURAV

[revharder]

imho, there is no need to discuss a thing about such a practice!
it all depends upon the usage of car and nearness to a petrol pump.

but then not going 'off-topic', i'd like to mention that
- if someone always want to drag with other similar vehicles on red-lights(!) then to have some better p2w ratio, minimum filling is good!
- similarly, lesser weight means better fuel economy, better handling, etc.
- for safety point of view, it is better to fill lesser fuel. if car catches fire then it'll have less fuel to blow!
- if somebody is venturing for some long distance then max fuel filling is better. but then it calls for better driving style too!
- if you don't have a petrol pump in your way, and have to go quite a distance to fill up then max filling is better!

so it all depends on the usage of car and the nearness of petrolpump.


sorry, not an exciting thread to discuss anything!

[karthik247]

Originally Posted by revharder

- if someone always want to drag with other similar vehicles on red-lights(!) then to have some better p2w ratio, minimum filling is good!
- similarly, lesser weight means better fuel economy, better handling, etc.

Serious!? I really doubt if it plays such a big role in normal road cars. The added weight wouldn't play a part at all actually in 99% of the cases IMO

Originally Posted by revharder

- for safety point of view, it is better to fill lesser fuel. if car catches fire then it'll have less fuel to blow!

Then the best thing to do is not fill fuel at all..so no blow ups

Hope u weren't serious abt the above stuff!!

[BUSA]

karthik i seriously feel that when the car is full tank it makes a distance. In cars with tanks of around 60L you can feel the difference.

[2fast4u]

i always tank full (moneyvalue for 75ltrs) out of 78 capacity and its consumed in 2 to 2½ days. also driven down till the Fuel indicator comes up.
Have never found the vehicle unstable with full tank when fast, cornering etc.
this is a 14 yr old work horse.

[karthik247]

In case of F1 cars, which weigh only arnd 600kgs, adding fuel of approx 100kg is like 20-30% of the cars weight so it plays a vital role.

In case of road cars, which weigh approx 1500kg, adding extra 100kg of fuel is just like a real fat person sitting in the car. Most probably you won't even notice it.

[gr8guzzler]

I think it's just a case of convinience...

In my case I prefer to do a tank full everytime the needle goes below red since my preferred petrol pump is 5 KM from my place. Never really thought in terms of weight or FE.

Cheers!!!

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by revharder

- for safety point of view, it is better to fill lesser fuel. if car catches fire then it'll have less fuel to blow!!

Man that was hillarious!!!

Unless one is involving in some serious racing on the roads, full tank ideally shouldnot be the root of any problem.

Best practices:
1) Always fill petrol when early in the morning or late in the evening when the climate is relatively cooler, the density of fuel is highest when the climate is cooler. The air inside the fuel expands when the temperature rises hence the quantity is lesser for the same units compared to when the temp is cooler.

2) Always fill the tank to max to minimise the empty space inside the fuel tank as air inside that empty space causes faster evaporation of the remaining fuel.

*A fuel tank which is always kept at max returns highest mileage due to lesser evaporation and air bubble in the fuel line problems.

3) A full petrol tank doest affect the cars handling at all...infact it helps most front engine cars but counter balancing the distribution of weight...an empty tank simply means more weight in the front, obvious uneven weight distribution, affected handling!!!

[turbo_c]

Originally Posted by souravbasu

1. What is your Car ?

Maruti Esteem (MPFI)

Originally Posted by souravbasu

2. Which of the above practises you follow to refill the car ?

Fill it to FULL always. So refilling is not required that often.
But, by the time I refuel, the car is almost running on fumes !

Bunch of reasons I do this:
1. I tank up on the Mumbai - Pune expressway where petrol is almost Rs.3 cheaper than Pune and almost Rs. 2 cheaper than Mumbai (IOC Xtrapremium). A full tank (40 L) gets me thru one to & fro trip from Mumbai - Pune + some city driving on each end.
2. Lower evaporation losses.
3. Car actually handles better on a full tank (driver + 1 front seat passenger)

Originally Posted by souravbasu

3. How much of fuel you generally fill in each time (on average)?

Between 35 & 38 L. (Just once she died on me just before the pump and I ended up putting in 40 L !)

Originally Posted by souravbasu

4. Why do you feel your practise is good for your car ?

1. Lower evaporation losses (good for me too )
2. Better weight distribution
3. Higher quantity of fuel in tank = less effect of a small quantity bad batch of petrol from an "untrusted" pump.

- T u r b o C -

[racingismylife]

best thing is to fill around 500 bucks everytime it gets over and carry this bisleri 5 litre big bottle but filled with petrol .

[Wheeliej]

I normally fill the full tank (about 28-30 lts) in my Esteem so i can track the FE. Dont know why, but when i fill in half-tank, i get lower FE. When filling in a new petrol pump, i normally fill in only 1000 Rs. worth since i would rather fill in a couple of pumps (one is IBP on Magadi Road - when i visit a friend's farm each weekend or in Indian Oil on ORR close to BEL Corporate office) on the way to work.

[pramodkumar]

Maan This is actually funny . Wolf is right a full tank give the car better stability and while designing the car i am sure that the company must have tested the car with full tank. most of the cars are tested with full tank of gas, All passengers and luggage in the boot to see the worst case sinario but i am sure the difference in the millage is not more than 2-3 KMS and about the fire, fuel in the tank is more safe than in a " 5 liter Bisleri bottle "

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by 2fast4u

i always tank full (moneyvalue for 75ltrs) out of 78 capacity and its consumed in 2 to 2½ days.

You burn 75 litres in 2 to 2½ days

Dude which car(I am sure in must be in Abu Dhabi hence asking) & is your work place that far ??

As for me:

Car: Alto LXi
Fuel: Full tank around 29-32 liters each fill

this practise seems good enough

[satan_crazy]

Car: Baleno

I have my fuel top-up days - every Friday late evening, after I leave from office.
Typically in a week, I burn around 15-18 litres of petrol.

s

[Zappo]

My Car : Indica V2, Diesel

Just like Satan Crazy I have a fixed day to fill. Normally it happens to be the Monday morning of each week, before going to the office. Just my office runs drink up around 14-15 liters of diesel every week. On top of that the consumption is on account of the weekend runs.

Whatever it is the car again gets a tankful on mondays. I also get to know the FE of the car every week.